Good computer organization can make your life easier because you’ll know exactly where to look for your digital files, like Word docs and jpeg images. That not only means you’ll be able to save time because you can find them faster, but let’s face it, it’s frustrating when you can’t find what you’re looking for, especially when you know it’s on your computer – somewhere! So, why not remove that stress from your life. Here are five computer organization tips to help you get started.
1) Declutter Your Desktop
We all have that one friend whose desktop is completely covered in files and folders, or perhaps that’s you. What’s the problem with this? Well, having too many items on your desktop can make it hard to find things, but more importantly, it can slow down your computer. It’s better to store folders someplace else on your C drive, such as your Documents folder.
2) Use a Logical Folder System
We’re all different, so a folder system that works for your best friend might not work well for you. Find a system that works best for your needs. But in doing, keep a couple of general rules in mind. Begin with a limited number of “main” folders that have broad names like “Family” or “Work Stuff” or “Taxes.” Then if needed, you can create sub-folders within these main folders. For example, in the main Taxes folder, you can have a separate sub-folder for each year. Be sure to give your folders names that remind you of what’s inside and avoid having loose files that aren’t in folders.
3) Use Cloud Storage or Removable Storage
If you have a whole lot of items to store, you might want to consider storing your folders in the cloud using cloud storage apps like Google Drive, Dropbox or others. You can also store a lot on removable thumb drives or purchase a fairly inexpensive external hard drive for things that you need to access less often.
4) Take Control of Your Email Inbox
It’s really easy to let your email Inbox get out of hand, especially when so many sites ask for your email address in exchange for discounts or access to their sites. The next thing you know, you’re getting more daily emails than you can ever hope to read. The best thing to do is to dedicate a day for unsubscribing from some of these. On that day, every time you get an email that you don’t want to continue getting, unsubscribe. Then to get rid of existing clutter from that sender, you can sort your email Inbox by “From” and then easily delete all the emails from that sender. For those things that you might want to keep longer, like receipts for tax purposes, create folders in your Inbox to store them. Once you get your Inbox back on track, try to keep up with it on a regular basis.
5) Get Rid of Apps that You Don’t Use
Under Settings, take a look at all the apps, also called programs, that are on your computer and uninstall those that you no longer use or that you no longer need. They take up space that can make your computer sluggish.
6) Clean Up the Back End
While you can do a lot to clean up your computer, there are still some things that you can’t see. Disk cleanup tools like CCleaner are great for optimizing your computer by deleting old temporary files, log reports, and duplicate files and defragmenting files to free up space. Many of these tools have versions that you can download and use for free. Just be careful that you know what you’re downloading. Windows also has a built-in Disk Defragmenter that you can use to analyze your computer and then defragment it if needed, while Macs defrag automatically.
We Hope You’ve Found Our Computer Organization Tips Useful!
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